June 13, 2023

Lockdown continues to affect people’s mental wellbeing

The Covid lockdowns have left a lasting impact on our mental wellbeing, according to recent polling and an academic study. Events company Hyve Group has partnered with Barbara Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge, to uncover the ways in which the pandemic has transformed our brains and how it has impacted our working lives. The study claims to highlight the significance of in-person professional social interactions and their essential role in rebuilding lost connections. More →

June 9, 2023

Artificial intelligence will boost short term headcount, claim half of employers

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

More than half (54 percent) of Britain’s employers expect Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies will have a positive impact on their staff headcount over the next two years, according to a survey by Experis, a part of ManpowerGroup. The survey of 2,000+ British employers also suggests that more than two thirds (69 percent) of businesses expect AI tools and technologies – including ChatGPT, Machine Learning and Virtual Reality – to have a positive impact on upskilling and reskilling, as well as on employee training (68 percent). 67 percent of British organisations anticipate a positive impact on employee engagement because of AI technology, and 60 percent think it can positively impact the onboarding process too. More →

May 24, 2023

Hybrid working, work from anywhere and the evolution of the Third Place

by Chelsea Perino • Comment, Property, Workplace design

The restrictions brought about by COVID-19 altered where we work and thus also how, when and through which channels we do work related activities. These changes radically altered the way previously office-based workers thought about ‘work’ as an activity. This new era of hybrid working had a significant impact on traditional models of workplace provisioning. One could argue that pre-COVID-19 the ‘work mindset’ was almost an afterthought because there were distinguishing markers that indicated when you were expected to work and when you were not. If you were in the office, then you were expected to be doing work-related tasks. Then, at the literal end of the day, you switched off your computer and went home and mentally ‘turned-off’ until you returned to work the next morning. More →

May 17, 2023

Environmental concerns and wellbeing continue to dominate BCO Awards

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The BCO Awards for the South of England and South Wales have been announced, with recognition going to six office buildings across the region. Held at The City Hall in Cardiff, the BCO’s annual South of England and South Wales Awards Dinner claims to recognise projects that demonstrate best practice in office design, fit-out, operation and sustainability, setting the standard for excellence across the sector. More →

March 30, 2023

Every workplace innovation contains the seeds of its opposite

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

The announcement by Apple that it wanted its employees to work in an office for three days a week sparked the usual, tedious pile-on about how many days people should spend in a physical workplace each week. This included the columnist at Grazia who joins the tens of millions of people around the world who not only know where Apple is going wrong, but also how to run every other organisation in the world and what’s best for everybody who works for them. More →

March 27, 2023

The five ages of the office and the man who shaped the way we talk about them

by Rob Harris • Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

The office has passed through five ages. The ‘coffee houses’ of the 17th century, yielded to the ‘clerical factories’ of the 19th as machines revolutionised work. After the Second World War, the ‘corporate offices’ of global corporations and William Whyte’s Organization Man dominated the scene. Following the launch of IBM’s PC in the early-1980s, we saw the rise of ‘digital offices’ in the 1990s, complete with internet, email and social media. And for the past few years we have been moving inexorably towards the latest age: ‘network offices’. Each age was shorter than its predecessor: both the digital and network ages began less than a career span ago. More →

March 8, 2023

Just call it ‘work’; Kate Lister in conversation with the Workplace Geeks

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Podcasts, Premium Content

In the latest episode of the Workplace Geeks podcast, one of the world’s leading experts on work and workplace, Kate Lister, focuses on a recent study in collaboration with Owl Labs, ‘State of Remote Work 2022’. The report, in its 6th year, provides a platform for a much broader conversation about hybrid and remote working (spoiler alert: terms which Kate hates by the way), Kate’s invitation to speak during the pandemic to United States Congress about home-working, and GWA’s long standing and freely available ROI and savings calculators. James returns following his blacksmithing course in the Peak District to a new discussion format – no more Pinder Ponder, get ready for the reflection section.

February 21, 2023

What happens to work when the machine stops?

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

In 1909, E M Forster – not exactly known for a body of work including dystopian fiction – published a novella called The Machine Stops. You can read it here but the story describes a future in which people live below ground, in isolation but with all their needs met by an omnipresent Machine (you can see where this is going). More →

January 30, 2023

New study will explore the impact of economic turmoil on workplace experience

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

People’s workplace experience in the wake of recent economic upheavals is to be investigated as part of a major new survey led by Cardiff University and funded mainly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The Skills and Employment Survey 2023 (SES2023), which also involves researchers at UCL, the Universities of Oxford and Surrey and the National Centre for Social Research, will help academics assess the impact of an extraordinary period of turbulence for workers which includes the economic downturn, Cost-of-Living Crisis, Covid-19 and Brexit. More →

January 27, 2023

New lighting guide updated to embrace era of hybrid working

by Jayne Smith • Facilities management, Lighting, News, Workplace design

The Society of Light and Lighting has launched the latest Lighting Guide 07 (LG7): Offices [paywall for non CIBSE members]. There have been considerable developments since the previous edition, published in 2015. The new guide considers hybrid working, addressing uncertainty around how office space will be used in the future. With increased hybrid working and the use of portable devices, people are spending less time at their desks and in the office. This revision of Lighting Guide 7 now includes home office lighting advice. More →

December 12, 2022

New study claims people who can work remotely come into the office for less than two days a week

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace design

A global study of 220 offices in 33 countries, representing nearly 250,000 employees, has revealed that hybrid working is becoming established as the norm for those who can work remotely. Those people now come into the office an average of just 1.5 days a week, versus nearly four days a week before the Covid-19 pandemic. AWA’s second Hybrid Working Index study, conducted between September and November this year, found that on average people go into the office 29 percent of the time. Among employers surveyed in both the first study, in the summer, and this one, attendance was steady at around 25 percent. More →

December 2, 2022

Office sector net zero targets require significant shift in thinking

by Jayne Smith • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

A new report, Delivering Net Zero Carbon in the Workplace [BCO members only] produced by University College London Consultants (UCLC) for the British Council for Offices (BCO), claims to identify the barriers that businesses are facing as they strive to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of their offices. The report, informed by over 100 office occupiers and building professionals, outlines the measures that those working in the office sector can take to overcome these barriers at what the report suggests is low or zero cost. More →